atisfaction.
The amount of labor, of careful fitting, neat piecing, and elaborate
quilting, the thousands of stitches that went into one of these
patchwork quilts, are to-day almost painful to regard. Women revelled in
intricate and difficult patchwork; they eagerly exchanged patterns with
one another; they talked over the designs, and admired pretty bits of
calico, and pondered what combinations to make, with far more zest than
women ever discuss art or examine high art specimens together to-day.
There was one satisfactory condition in the work, and that was the
quality of the cottons and linens of which the patchwork was made. They
were none of the slimsy, composition-filled, aniline-dyed calicoes of
to-day. A piece of "chaney," "patch," or "copper-plate" a hundred years
old will be as fresh to-day as when woven. Real India chintzes and
palampours are found in these quilts, beautiful and artistic stuffs, and
the firm, unyielding, high-priced, "real" French calicoes.

A sense of the idealization of quilt-piecing is given also by the quaint
descriptive names applied to the various patterns. Of those the
"Rising-sun," "Log Cabin," and "Job's Trouble" are perhaps the most
familiar. "Job's Trouble" was simply honeycomb or hexagonal blocks. "To
set a Job's Trouble," was to cut out an exact hexagon for a pattern
(preferably from tin, otherwise from firm cardboard); to cut out from
this many hexagons in stiff brown paper or letter paper. These were
covered with the bits of calico with the edges turned under; the sides
were sewed carefully together over and over, till a firm expanse
permitted the removal of the papers.

The name of the pattern seldom gave an expression of its character.
"Dove in the Window," "Rob Peter to Pay Paul," "Blue Brigade,"
"Fan-mill," "Crow's Foot," "Chinese Puzzle," "Fly-wheel," "Love-knot,"
"Sugar-bowl," are simply whims of fancy. Floral names, such as "Dutch
Tulip," "Sunflower," "Rose of Sharon," "Bluebells," "World's Rose,"
might suggest a love of flowers. Sometimes designs are appliqued on with
some regard for coloring. I once saw a quilt that was a miracle of
tedious work. The squares of white cotton each held a slender stem with
two leaves of green or light brown calico, surmounted by a four-petalled
flower of high-colored calico,--pink, red, blue, etc. This design was
all carefully hemmed down. The effect was surprisingly Oriental.

When the patchwork was completed, it was laid flatly on the